I had a launcher update for Stellaris. Once it loaded it asked to restart the launcher. When I did, it crashed Windows and forced my computer to restart. Now the launcher will not activate and I cannot access the game. I tried uninstalling and reinstalling, but I get the same error message. It is a pop up that says Bootstrap Error. Cannot Start Launcher. If I launch through Steam, or with a direct launch of the file, or even just trying to start the launcher I get the same error. I have tried verifying the integrity of the files.
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In the ~2 years' life of this launcher I have never before heard of it crashing Windows or triggering a hardware restart. You may have something more fundamental wrong here!
As for getting the launcher going again, Please try this:
- uninstall Paradox Launcher v2 from the Windows "Apps and features" utility, if still present.
Delete the following folders if still present:
- C:/users/{userName}/AppData/Local/Programs/Paradox Interactive/
- C:/users/{userName}/AppData/Local/Paradox Interactive/
- C:/users/{userName}/AppData/Roaming/Paradox Interactive/launcher-v2/
To see the AppData folder you'll need to enable View Hidden Items in File Explorer.
- exit the Steam app entirely
- run steam.exe as the Windows Admin user
- run the game from the PLAY button in Steam
IF that doesn't help, in this folder are some .log files:
C:/users/{userName}/AppData/Local/Paradox Interactive/launcher-v2/
Please attach them here.
Note that you can run stellaris.exe directly from File Explorer, which bypasses the launcher.
As for getting the launcher going again, Please try this:
- uninstall Paradox Launcher v2 from the Windows "Apps and features" utility, if still present.
Delete the following folders if still present:
- C:/users/{userName}/AppData/Local/Programs/Paradox Interactive/
- C:/users/{userName}/AppData/Local/Paradox Interactive/
- C:/users/{userName}/AppData/Roaming/Paradox Interactive/launcher-v2/
To see the AppData folder you'll need to enable View Hidden Items in File Explorer.
- exit the Steam app entirely
- run steam.exe as the Windows Admin user
- run the game from the PLAY button in Steam
IF that doesn't help, in this folder are some .log files:
C:/users/{userName}/AppData/Local/Paradox Interactive/launcher-v2/
Please attach them here.
Note that you can run stellaris.exe directly from File Explorer, which bypasses the launcher.